CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Country’s Major Demographic Problem: Too Few or Too Many People?

Photo by Bailey Alexander

A weather person who told us to bundle up for the cold weather, but also be sure to drink plenty of fluids to protect against the heat, would not be taken very seriously. That is roughly the state of economics when it comes to basic demographic questions. On alternate days the economy seems to be suffering from too many people and too few people. Yet people somehow still take economists seriously on this issue.

Today the problem is too many people. A New York Times article on the weak job market facing young college graduates told readers:

“Some economists have hypothesized that the challenging labor market for young degree holders could be the outcrop of a longer-term demographic shift that is........

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